COUNTRY music artist Karl Broadie was diagnosed with cancer not long after making his new home in Nundle, but the music industry is rallying around him.
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His partner Rachel Webster spoke to The Leader about Broadie’s fight against stage four pancreatic cancer and the support he’s getting from all facets of the industry.
“He’s so incredibly well-supported by close friends, people who have known him for a long time, but also by the broader musical community – and that extends from students that he’s taught at the academy, to people whose albums he’s produced, people he’s written songs with, people he’s played in bands with – the size of the community is just incredible,” she said.
“Everyone he has worked with has been touched equally.”
There will be a benefit concert at Rooty Hill RSL on Sunday, a Bunker Session has already raised money for the fight in Coogee, and benefit concerts are being planned for Tamworth and Nundle.
Adam Harvey, Kasey Chambers, Catherine Britt, Brooke McClymont, Adam Eckersley, Luke O’Shea and Jasmine Rae are among the artists performing in Sydney.
“We are not afraid of the word cancer. We are ... doing everything we can to get him better.”
- Partner, Rachel Webster
Harvey said it was a testament to the country music community that they always rallied around their mates.
“Karl is loved by everyone because he is such a lovely fellow, talented songwriter and, more than that, just a great bloke,” he said.
“Karl’s got a couple of kids and it could happen to any of us. I just hope we can raise a good quid for him and his family. It might make things easier for his family.”
Harvey said he loved Broadie and the country music industry really was a family who looked after each other.
“It’s events like this to celebrate someone’s music and life that brings that concept home,” he said.
“We will have a great old celebration and celebrate his music for a really good cause.”
Broadie and his partner are fighting the cancer with a holistic approach in Sydney.
“He and I have an approach to his health. We are not afraid of the word cancer. We are just all about doing everything we can to get him better,” Webster said.
“It’s been so amazing to have that body of people behind us and appreciating that this is the way. With the Bunker, the best thing about that evening was that it had a grassroots feel and that’s the approach Karl takes to his music. It’s always been about celebrating up-and-coming musicians and celebrating the songwriting community.
“Him being there to experience that was just beautiful, because everyone understands how important it is to work together in songwriting,” Webster said.
“That’s his approach.”
Broadie won’t attend the Concert for Karl at Rooty Hill RSL, but hopes to watch it via a live stream.
“He’s really excited about it,” Webster said.
“He feels so blessed that some of the big names, who of course are his friends, have stepped up. The good thing about the Rooty Hill concert is it gives the fans the chance to get involved.”
Broadie was a tutor at this year’s CMAA Academy of Country Music and his students from #TeamKarl are organising a concert for him during the Hats Off to Country Festival.
“Karl’s students are just so adorable,” Webster said.
“The experience of the country music academy is so raw and so real, the students were just blown away by the experience and blown away by what they learned from Karl. Karl was incredibly unwell when he did the academy. He was so sick and had incredible pain, and he just keeps giving and giving. They’re just so excited to be able to do something for him.”
There will also be a Nundle gig on June 18 at The DAG Sheep Station.
“There’s been a great deal of anticipation around us moving to Nundle and we so hope to return,” Webster said.
“Once his immediate health is dealt with, we hope to return up there and enjoy being up there. It was our dream scenario and for our three boys, it is just the perfect environment.”
Webster said Broadie was “overwhelmed” by the support the music community had shown him.
“He’s overwhelmed by the generosity of his close friends in the music industry, who are going to do whatever they could for him,” she said.
“Karl saw what Catherine (Britt) was going through with chemo at the academy; and then there’s Kasey and they have been friends for years; people that Karl has mentored who are incredible musicians, like Caitlin Harnett and Katie Brianna. It’s just going to be such an exciting afternoon of old friends.”
Webster said musicians did it for the love of it, but the financial support from the community had meant they could focus on Broadie’s health, rather than financial issues.